Goodbye, Design Week: CITE Goes Dutch
Katherine Sharpe
It's Friday in New York City. The weather is finally beautiful. Memorial Day is just beginning. There are fewer people than usual on the subway this morning. In 24 hours, Manhattan will feel like a relative ghost town.
It's hard to believe that just a week ago, the frenzy of New York Design Week was brand new. While the last wisps of it are still in the air, I wanted to be sure to write something about the very first Design Week event we went to. It was a breakfast-time press opening for "400 Years Later," an exhibition of emerging Dutch designers at the CITE showroom on Greene Street in Soho. The show was sponsored in part by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, to promote awareness of the Netherlands as a global hot-spot for design. (I feel like I'd always associated the Netherlands with good design, but the organizers of "400 Years Later"—the name refers to current anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam—fear that Scandinavia hogs an unfair share of the design limelight.)
The show, which will remain up at CITE through June 14, features the work of 23 Dutch designers. The organizers wanted to emphasize the integration of design into the fabric of life in the Netherlands—a union that's made necessary by the Netherlands' status as one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
"Design in general almost has a different 'function' in the Netherlands than in the U.S.," explains Alissia Melka-Teichroew, who co-curated the exhibition with Jan Habraken. "It's something that's inherent to our culture." She adds that she means something much more thorough-going than the fact "that we are known for design collectives like Droog." In the Netherlands, she says, design is an inevitability. "We live in very small spaces, so if we have space we want it to be useful and beautifully used. This way we can enjoy our lives."
Dutch designers also enjoy a level of support for their work that's unheard of in the United States. Government subsidies help designers to work and experiment, lessening the pressure to make work that's commercially viable. Melka-Teichroew has mixed feelings about this. She acknowledges that it's more comfortable to work as a designer in the Netherlands, as she did for two years after finishing her Bachelor of Arts degree at the Design Academy Eindhoven. She now lives and works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "Because in the U.S. we do not have subsidies, it is important to learn how to design products that will sell or develop a skill set that will make you wanted so you can earn money," she says. "I think this is a valuable lesson. Which is why even though I can get frustrated about the design climate here in the U.S., it is also a valuable place to be."
Amsterdam is a hub of creative activity in the Netherlands, of course, but the design scene isn't confined there. Many of the designers in the show had some connection with the city of Eindhoven, which has been consolidating its reputation as a hub for Dutch design in recent years. The city is home to the Design Academy Eindhoven, and it plays host to Dutch Design Week, taking place from October 17 to 25, 2009. Melka-Teichroew describes Eindhoven as a town where "you get to know everyone." And it's proud of its designers. The mayor of Eindhoven, Rob van Gijzel, was on hand at the opening of "400 Years Later" where he gave an address to the journalists and designers. He had a special gift for each of the latter: a delicate metal cut-out of the Eindhoven skyline which, mounted in front of a small lamp, casts a shadow replica of the city on a designer's wall. Wherever you go, van Gijzel explained, you never need feel homesick for our town. Another example of problem-solving Dutch design at work.
Images, top to bottom: "400 Years Later" at CITE; "Yoga Chairs" by Lucas Maassen; "Jointed Jewellery" by Alissia Melka-Teichroew for byAMT Studio; "Softy" lamps by Laurens van Wieringen. Jointed Jewellery photo by Alissia Melka-Teichroew.
It's hard to believe that just a week ago, the frenzy of New York Design Week was brand new. While the last wisps of it are still in the air, I wanted to be sure to write something about the very first Design Week event we went to. It was a breakfast-time press opening for "400 Years Later," an exhibition of emerging Dutch designers at the CITE showroom on Greene Street in Soho. The show was sponsored in part by the Netherlands Board of Tourism, to promote awareness of the Netherlands as a global hot-spot for design. (I feel like I'd always associated the Netherlands with good design, but the organizers of "400 Years Later"—the name refers to current anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam—fear that Scandinavia hogs an unfair share of the design limelight.)
The show, which will remain up at CITE through June 14, features the work of 23 Dutch designers. The organizers wanted to emphasize the integration of design into the fabric of life in the Netherlands—a union that's made necessary by the Netherlands' status as one of the most densely populated countries in the world.
"Design in general almost has a different 'function' in the Netherlands than in the U.S.," explains Alissia Melka-Teichroew, who co-curated the exhibition with Jan Habraken. "It's something that's inherent to our culture." She adds that she means something much more thorough-going than the fact "that we are known for design collectives like Droog." In the Netherlands, she says, design is an inevitability. "We live in very small spaces, so if we have space we want it to be useful and beautifully used. This way we can enjoy our lives."
Dutch designers also enjoy a level of support for their work that's unheard of in the United States. Government subsidies help designers to work and experiment, lessening the pressure to make work that's commercially viable. Melka-Teichroew has mixed feelings about this. She acknowledges that it's more comfortable to work as a designer in the Netherlands, as she did for two years after finishing her Bachelor of Arts degree at the Design Academy Eindhoven. She now lives and works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. "Because in the U.S. we do not have subsidies, it is important to learn how to design products that will sell or develop a skill set that will make you wanted so you can earn money," she says. "I think this is a valuable lesson. Which is why even though I can get frustrated about the design climate here in the U.S., it is also a valuable place to be."
Amsterdam is a hub of creative activity in the Netherlands, of course, but the design scene isn't confined there. Many of the designers in the show had some connection with the city of Eindhoven, which has been consolidating its reputation as a hub for Dutch design in recent years. The city is home to the Design Academy Eindhoven, and it plays host to Dutch Design Week, taking place from October 17 to 25, 2009. Melka-Teichroew describes Eindhoven as a town where "you get to know everyone." And it's proud of its designers. The mayor of Eindhoven, Rob van Gijzel, was on hand at the opening of "400 Years Later" where he gave an address to the journalists and designers. He had a special gift for each of the latter: a delicate metal cut-out of the Eindhoven skyline which, mounted in front of a small lamp, casts a shadow replica of the city on a designer's wall. Wherever you go, van Gijzel explained, you never need feel homesick for our town. Another example of problem-solving Dutch design at work.
Images, top to bottom: "400 Years Later" at CITE; "Yoga Chairs" by Lucas Maassen; "Jointed Jewellery" by Alissia Melka-Teichroew for byAMT Studio; "Softy" lamps by Laurens van Wieringen. Jointed Jewellery photo by Alissia Melka-Teichroew.
